At a crucial turning point in the evolution of the U.S, industrial base, environmental awareness continues to escalate. While tangible point-source pollutants remain the primary concern of both governmental and non-governmental environmental organizations, recent trends indicate the growing and long-awaited recognition of the adverse effects of noise pollution. Industrial noise in both densely populated cities and in pristine environmental settings continues to receive much attention. While related federal legislation remains incipient, several state and local legislatures, foreboding enhanced federal oversight, have commenced implementation of legislation expressly directed towards regulating and maintaining environmental noise levels. Unfortunately, to comply with such legislation, civil engineering and construction industries are presently afforded with few, costly, and often inadequate means to achieve required noise reduction levels.
While noise reduction devices have been the subject of previous patents, such conventional devices were originated in unrelated fields, and accordingly, had limited applicability to comparatively large industrial-scale civil engineering projects which require precise reduction of noise.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,646, issued to Felipe Planes et al. on Jul. 29, 1980, sets forth a rigid, inflexible acoustic panel utilized as space dividers in an office environment. Planes' acoustic panels are single units, consisting of two-half panels placed face-to-face with an air space separating the halves. When used to construct a larger acoustic barrier, several half panels are rigidly staggeredly joined together with hidden connectors. Again, an air space is provided in the middle of each half panel to moderate the acoustic performance of the space dividers.
In view of the required structural rigidity of Planes' acoustical panels, implementation of Planes' narrowly designed concepts in industrial-scale noise reduction projects would be costly and clearly impractical. Further while Planes teaches towards the utilization of inter-panel air spaces, it is believed that much better sound abatement could be achieved in the industrial context through the use of an inner membrane operating as a sound baffle.
Unlike Planes, W. German Offenlegungsshrift 2,734,484, invented by Norbert Colberg and published on Feb. 8, 1979, sets forth a noise reduction device more typically found in the industrial context. More specifically, Colberg discusses a roadside noise barrier. Colberg' barrier consists of several rigid components requiring comparatively significant amounts of time and labor to both manufacture and to subsequently construct into a finished roadside noise barrier.
Italian Patent 548,707, issued to George A. Ruhssow on Sep. 29, 1956, is believed to encompass insulation designed to resist strain of tension and compression. The packaging material is believed also to have thermal and sound insulating qualities.
In view of the several deficiencies in the art, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing sound abatement blankets, which were developed to provide an effective and economical answer to the long felt, but heretofore unsolved need of reducing industrial noise. None of the above noted patents or cited prior art, either singly or in combination, are seen to disclose the specific arrangement of concepts disclosed by the present invention.